“Red Light” - Review Of DJ Khaled’s We Global
ALBUM REVIEWS By TSSCrew on September 16, 2008 at 5:33 pmWords By David D.
Although DJ Khaled’s buffoonery has become a thing of legend over the past couple of years, no one can argue the success that the man has garnered. DJ Khaled has mastered the art of asking for a feature and finagled his way to a record deal along with a third album commemorating this mainstream notoriety, We Global. Whereas Khaled seeks to bask in his international success, the DJ makes little effort to reach past Dade County for his features and conceptually refuses to move to uncharted territory.
We Global is fundamentally the same Khaled album we’ve heard before. There are numerous contrived mash-ups of rappers over generic Runners, Cool & Dre and Co. beats with an R&B hook. How’s this for repetition: of the thirteen songs on the album, ten of them have some sort of sung hook by Trey Songz, T-Pain, Akon or a off-brand knock-off. Furthermore, the big collaborative efforts lack the star power of past Khaled projects. There is no Wayne, T.I. or Jeezy to counteract the lack of substance or stellar production. Instead, artists with substantially less talent and appeal take over. The aforementioned MCs are replaced by the likes of Ace Hood, Blood Raw and Brisco. Look no further than Boosie’s annoying spelling on “Out Here Grinding” and Shawty Lo’s unbelievably horrible verse on “Final Warning” to see that We Global is a lyrical step back from We The Best.
It’s never a good sign when the most detrimental element of an album is the main artist themselves. Khaled’s insanity and exasperation reach a whole new level this go around as he screams nonsensical anecdotes to begin most of the songs. Khaled even begins the album with 16…um…bars that begin with the lines “The internet can’t deal with a nigga like me.” Khaled’s verse seems to last forever as he pauses between each line to add an “is he done yet?” effect. Ace Hood joins the fray soon thereafter sounding like a young Rakim by comparison when, in actuality, Hood is merely the second coming of Yung Wun.
The irony of We Global is that the most successfully listenable songs are generally handled by one MC at a time. Though Kanye sounds lost in foreign territory, his auto-tuned collaboration with T-Pain, “Go Hard,” is as infectious as it is disappointing. Mr. West croons together throw-away bars as T-Pain tries his best to create his earlier “I’m So Hood” magic. Nas on the other hand truly shines on “I’m On” showing an ability to make a radio smash that Nas hasn’t shown in years. The track is almost too good for this album as Nas rides the beat perfectly, syncing his lines to make each rhyme coincide with the snares, managing to (gasp!) make the theme of his song connect with the idea of being global. The Game however, falters while essentially begging for beef with Jigga over a sample that was handled much more masterfully by 9th Wonder on a Memphis Bleek album from several years ago.
A positive sign from the album is that Rick Ross takes more steps to claiming his “Most Improved” trophy for the year as he comes off like a star with his newfound ability to switch up his flow allows him to tear through “Go Ahead” and standout production of “Bullet.”
Since this is a Khaled album though, the overall quality of the album relies on the collaborations - which all fall short. The standard claps, horns and gun cocks that make up most of the production does little to distract from the fact that We Global is teeming of awfully simple bars courtesy of rookies and underperformed songs from established artists. Yes, he may be a globally recognized DJ, but when it comes to truly constructing a great compilation album, DJ Khaled has a world to learn.
DJ Khaled - We Global (Best Buy Bonus Tracks)
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, AUDIO, GENERAL, MUSIC, STRAY SHOTS — Tags: Bonus Tracks, DJ Khaled, Kanye West, Nas, T-Pain, The Game, We Global
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26 Comments
Anybody got wiz khalifas star power.
2.5? This is a solid .5. None of the songs do anything. The features are all second rate. Rick Ross is on too many songs. Ye’s song was tre (horrible). The beats were weak. Not much variety (compared to the last 2 installments). Khaled has run out of steam. It’s evident that he can’t pay Weezy*, T.I., Jeezy etc. for some quality verses so has beens run amock. Where was Fat Joe. Hasn’t the FLA movement died yet (SAY YES!).
i think that rating is too high.
GreumsyMessage:
Preemo!…listen… do it for the HH world.
catch the nas’ accapela (calls fat joe, and joey calls khaled and k send you this one)
and do ya thang wit it !! pleaseeeeeeeeee
put that on internet, then WE BUZZ !
and NaS when he’ll see that on the net ! he’ll be crazy. so
he calls you up to work wit ya soon … for 2009 !
——————-
oh! and WE BLOGAL !!!
we takin’ over > this third compilation.
ehem…now for some real hip-hop…
Duck Down Records - The Hotline Mixtape:
link: http://www.zshare.net/download/1860058431a9f331/
front cover: http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y224/bigmyk/duckdown1.jpg
back cover: http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y224/bigmyk/duckdown2.jpg
i will never listen to this shit
For some GOOD music, go check the comments on the DJ Premier Halftime show post. Just uploaded Halftime Radio Best of 2007…
man yall trippin.this album wuz the shit…..
as a fuckn coaster on my coffee table
According to the review the album fails at everything and it’s terrible both sonically and lyrically. Why did it get 2.5 cigs then. If you think something sucks then fuckin’ act like it and rate accordingly.
One.
I feel like when artists are first hungry, their creativity is strong but when they gain a certain upper status in the game, they lay back a lil bit and that’s not a good thing. Atleast Khaled got over the sophmore slump and he had a strong first single. But to be real im not feelin “go hard” the auto-tune verses from kanye fucked the whole song up. The hook was OK but not up-to-par. He shoulda tried to outdo we takin over, and im so hood. Out here grindin almost did it but…nah!
Im jus talkin bout the singles yall.
Thanks for the criticism folks…I’m new to the reviewing thing. I agree (as you can see) the album was pretty bad, but the Kanye, Nas and final Rick Ross tracks are pretty good and saving graces to the album. It was def a toss up between 2 and 2.5. But yea, thanks and I’m taking these all into consideration for future joints, fam
I give it a 1.5…I think 2.5 is misleading and way too generous.
I thought Games Red Light was the best track on the album so I definitely disagree with “The Game however, falters while essentially begging for beef with Jigga”
When is Game not beggin for beef? lol
“over a sample that was handled much more masterfully by 9th Wonder on a Memphis Bleek album from several years ago.”
Red Light is the only the second track I heard from The Inkredibles (Jeezys Vacation was the first) but I appreciate what they did with the sample. Bleeks Alright was alright. 9th did his thing but so did these cats.
Memph/9th beat was crazy !
this Game joint is cool.
I agree with dude talking about this getting 2.5 when you say it is bad. 2.5 is mediocore, this is worse, so judge accordingly like dude said. That’s why rating systems suck, people are to afraid to go outside of the usual range of around 3 or 3.5
http://vimeo.com/1725766
So I guess Dj Khaleed isn’t THE BEST!!!!
LOL
well the source used to add mics..im sure u can go back n swipe a cig..at least remove a filter
As Khaled continues to play on radio stations I will continue to cover my ears accordingly…
…and don’t worry D.D., it’s not like many cats are rushing out to buy anything rated 2.5 or below anyway…
i’d give this album a very solid loosie. just a single one.
Only because of the nas song.
nice review - khaled is always good for a couple bangers, but nothing else. he will, however, go down as a hip hop legend, in the same sense that khia will go down as a legend in reality television, and rick ross will go down as a legend in miami’s criminal underworld.
That song w/Kanye & T-Pain is tough.
lol i gave it a 1.5, and that’s being generous.
The best buy bonus tracks were better then the entire cd (they were good). Kanye & T-Pains track is ass and im a huge KanYe fan. I do think the nas song was pretty dope. Game sounded just like Nas on his track too.
Khaleds head was is so big that he was set to “perform” at the Low Rider show this past year which really meant… he would come out and say whatever he said on the intros of each track and the dj would cut it right after. He gives Miami a bad name. I’d rather bump a DJ Laz album then to hear Khaled do a 4 second intro. I wonder if he screams like that during intercourse right before Ace comes in and finishes the job for him
Well if you ask me i think the album was OK! but in a good way lol. I think khaled didn’t set his standards high enough he got a little lazy with this one. I was a big fan from we the best but now not so much. I probably would or rated it a 3 of 5 just because some tracks were sick wit it and they don’t deserve a shitty rating even though the album does and i am a rep 305 all day and i actually see khaled DJ and he aint that bad at maybe he should go back to actual DJing cuz thats what got him out there and thats what he was good at. I think khaled is done with in the rap game, maybe hes just gonna dick ride ace hood until his shit flops like i project it too.